On track for more competitive rail freight
in Europe

The European Commission has just taken a decisive
step in promoting the international transport of goods by rail. Today it adopted
a proposal for a regulation that would involve working with Member States to
designate international rail corridors providing operators with an efficient,
high-quality freight transport infrastructure. This is central to Europe’s
rail revival and to creating a transport system in the Community that is both
efficient and sustainable.

‘The Commission, Member States, infrastructure operators and all
other parties in the railway sector must get down to work together to make
competitive goods transport happen. The Commission is acting here fully in
accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. Member States are – and
will remain – free to suggest or sketch out these corridors themselves.
Our proposal is intended to make the railway infrastructure a more attractive
option for long-distance freight transport across Europe,’ said
Antonio Tajani, Commission Vice-President responsible for transport.

The development of rail freight is a key issue for transport in Europe. Rail
transport creates little pollution and could be a competitive alternative to
transport by road. The Commission’s ambition is to increase the proportion
of goods transported by rail by encouraging the creation of corridors along
which conditions for freight transport can be significantly better than is the
case currently. As a result, rail operators will be able to offer an efficient,
high-quality service and be more competitive on the goods transport market.

In particular, the corridors linking the Member States will make it possible
to:

integrate national infrastructures on the basis of closer cooperation
between infrastructure operators both on investment and actual operation;

respond better to rail freight operators’ requirements;

manage effectively those infrastructures that are used by passenger and
goods trains so that freight is no longer at a systematic disadvantage; and

ensure better connections between the rail infrastructure and other modes of
transport, which is essential to the development of co-modality.

The creation of international railway corridors for the transport
of goods is not a new idea. Already in the ‘logistics package’ which
it adopted in October 2007, the Commission signalled its intention to come
up with specific proposals geared to establishing a railway network in Europe
that put freight first. Coming after wide consultation of the sector and a
detailed impact assessment, today’s proposal is intended to put in place
many of the measures required to ensure the sustainable development of rail
freight.